As of January 2000, all developed and developing countries who are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) were obligated to have domestic laws and enforcement mechanisms that comply with the international standards set forth under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). TRIPS, which is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property, includes a set of provisions dealing with domestic procedures and remedies for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. TRIPS lays down certain general principles applicable to all intellectual property rights enforcement procedures, and contains provisions on civil and administrative procedures and remedies, provisional measures, special requirements related to border measures and criminal procedures.

Because of the January 2000 deadline for TRIPS compliance, during much of that year, USPTO developed and implemented many training programs to help those countries with the January 2000 deadline to implement the TRIPS provisions. The USPTO will continue to cooperate with other US agencies and regional and international organizations in the years to come to provide similar programs to developing countries.

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